In September, Negri Bossi will ship a V270-1450 injection press with 300 tons of clamping force from its factory in Milan, Italy, to Mathson's facility in Troy, Mich.

``Mathson will work closely with Negri Bossi to promote the integration of these various materials into advanced injection molding machines which can process all these materials in one machine,'' said Boney Mathew, president and chief executive officer of Mathson. That eliminates the need for multiple machines dedicated to specific materials, he said.

The multimaterial molding market is growing for automotive and biomedical products, said Liam Burns, general manager of Negri Bossi USA Inc. in Newark, Del.

Fast Heat Inc. of Elmhurst, Ill., said its two new multitip bushings for hot-runner molding of small parts feature compact design, better performance and ease of use.

The bushings, called the MT32D and MT45D, are under the company's Precision series. They provide gating of as many as four cavities, even when closely pitched.

Tips, heaters and thermocouples can be replaced by simply unscrewing them, without replacing the entire bushing. Also, the heater in each bushing gives a more-uniform distribution of heat to the tips, according to Fast Heat.

Lloyd Instruments Ltd. of Hants, England, said its new testing instrument improves the safety of performing heat-distortion temperature measurements and Vicat tests, a measurement of the temperature at which plastic starts to soften rapidly.

The device is called the Davenport HDT/VicatPlus. Tests are carried out in a closed, temperature-controlled oil bath. The weight-loading mechanism and test fixture mountings are a single unit, which is raised and lowered in the oil bath by an electric motor.

The assembly moves smoothly up and down on a lead screw to make sure the mechanism remains in an exact horizontal position.

Cooling also is done automatically, using water circulating through cooling pipes.

Woodrow Pearce, chief executive officer and president of Pearce Plastics Inc. of Pasadena, invented the technology. He is aiming the vented technology at firms that have paneling or pressurization problems.

Apel combines desirable properties of polyolefins and those for amorphous polymers. Containing cyclic norbornene in the polymer chain, Apel has a bulky molecular structure and a high density. Barrier properties and good processability are highlights in the material's performance.

Australian researchers are seeking overseas interest in new technology that uses plastic waste as a raw material in steel manufacturing.

Veena Sahajwalla, a researcher at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, discovered that many types of waste plastic can be used in steel manufacturing.

``Plastic is just another form of carbon. When it comes to making iron and steel, there's essentially no difference between polyethylene and natural resources, such as coal,'' she said.

Sahajwalla said research focused on developing the technology so no changes had to be made to traditional steel manufacturing processes.

She said there are environmental benefits, because waste plastics do not go to a landfill and the use of natural carbon is reduced. Plastic has other advantages over traditional carbon sources.

``It doesn't necessarily have the same impurities. Polyethylene, for example, is composed of about 85 percent carbon and 15 percent hydrogen. It's a nice, clean source of carbon,'' she said.

Sahajwalla said she aimed to include as many other resins as possible. ``Using plastics at high temperatures is still new science. Finding out the reactions is part of the discovery, but, unless a plastic brings in an element that is not acceptable, we will include it.''

Sahajwalla said she has begun discussions with steel manufacturers, but would not disclose details, saying it was too early.